TASTY TIDBITSWeehawken prevails in rare Tuesday grid gameMemorial kicked out of state soccer tournament; Sutherland wins county XC title

Hudson Reporter

Nov 11, 2012 | 2623 views | 0 | 6 | |

PROUD INDIAN – Weehawken running back Dante Cieri has had a great football season, helping to lead Weehawken to a 7-2 record, the school’s best regular season mark since 1974, and a home game next week in the opening round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I playoffs.

In 1970, Warren Beatty and the late Elizabeth Taylor starred in a movie entitled, “The Only Game in Town.” The movie was a flop and didn’t fare well in the box office.

This week, the Weehawken football team didn’t flop, but the Indians participated in the only game in town.

Because of the postponement due to Hurricane Sandy last week and the pending nor’easter that ended up dropping early-season snow this week, the Indians faced Hawthorne in a rare Tuesday game, a contest won by the Indians, 28-21.

It’s the first football game played on a Tuesday that anyone can remember locally.

“Because of the nor’easter coming, we wanted to play the game a little earlier,” said Weehawken head football coach and athletic director Zach Naszimento. “We were first going to play the game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., but when we heard the weather reports, we pushed it up to Tuesday afternoon. It worked out well. We ended up getting a win on Election Day in Weehawken. That had to make Mayor [Richard] Turner happy.”

Of course, Damien Corredor had a lot to do with the win. The super back scored three touchdowns, including a 60-yard punt return in the fourth quarter that gave the Indians the victory. Corredor has now rushed for 5,171 yards and scored 65 touchdowns in his brilliant career, both school records.

But the Indians also got a great game from Dante Cieri, who sometimes gets lost in the shuffle with all the attention Corredor receives.

Cieri, who had 170 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the Indians’ 46-6 win over Emerson Borough on Oct. 26, scored a touchdown on a 33-yard pass from Oliver Milano in Tuesday’s win.

“We knew he would have this kind of year,” Naszimento said. “He had solid workouts in the spring and summer. He didn’t play football two years ago, but we knew as soon as he got comfortable, he would be as important to us as Damien is.”

Cieri is the Indians’ jack-of-all-trades, playing running back on offense, but playing defensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker and safety throughout the course of the season.

“We use him all over the place and he does everything,” Naszimento said of Cieri, who now has 785 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns and has caught 17 passes for 370 yards and five more touchdowns.

“Dante is a strong kid who can run you over,” Naszimento said. “When he runs with the ball, he runs with such power. It gives us a whole other threat. Everyone else feeds off these two kids.”

The Indians close out their regular season with a 7-2 record, the school’s best record since 1974. They will also host an NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state playoff game next weekend, the first time ever that Weehawken has been the home team in the state playoffs.

The Memorial soccer team was all set to be the second seed in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV tournament, but the Tigers were disqualified from the state playoffs after three players were ejected from a game against Dickinson on Oct. 25.

The NJSIAA has a rule that states that if any varsity team in any sport accumulates three or more disqualifications for unsportsmanlike conduct, then that team is not permitted to play in the state playoffs.

It’s the same rule that knocked Union Hill out of the state football playoffs a few years ago, ironically after that team got into an altercation with Dickinson…

Perhaps one of the great feel-good stories that have been totally overlooked this year has been the play of the Hudson Catholic girls’ volleyball team.

In just the fourth season that girls were allowed to enroll in the formerly all-boys’ institution, the Hawks’ girls’ volleyball team has posted a 22-3 record and advanced to the recent Hudson County Tournament championship, where the Hawks fell to perennial power Secaucus.

The Hawks won their first round match in the NJSIAA Non-Public state tournament last Monday, defeating Gloucester Catholic, 2 games to 1…

Before Hurricane Sandy devastated the area, the Hudson County Track Coaches Association held their annual cross country championships at Bayonne County Park on Oct. 27.

In the boys’ division, Dickinson junior Shaquille Sutherland won the individual title, coming home in 16:10.30. St. Peter’s Prep ran away with the boys’ team title, led by senior Ryan McGann (second, 16:18.75), junior Fritz Heinrich (third, 16:31.10) and Jimmy Sause (sixth, 16:45.03). The Marauders placed five runners among the top nine, which is outstanding…

The girls’ race was won individually by Erika Alzamora of Kearny, but brilliant sophomore Brittany Gibson of McNair Academic finished second, leading her team to the county team title, the first time that McNair ever won a county title in cross country.

Gibson’s time of 19:04.37 was a bit better than Snyder’s Kali Kendall, who finished third…

There have been conflicting reports about a Lincoln football player allegedly assaulting a girl who was trying out for the boys’ football team.

Regardless of what took place, Lincoln head football coach Robert Hampton did not do anything that deserved being charged with hindering prosecution and failure to report a crime. Hampton tried his best to quell the situation while being on the outside (he suffered an Achilles tendon injury that forced him to take disability). He thought the situation was taken care of after the player in question apparently apologized to the girl involved and her mother. Hampton only learned of the charges pending against him and his player two months after the fact.

But there is no way that Robert Hampton did anything that justifies a criminal trial – one that may end his coaching career. That in itself is a shame, because Hampton was nothing but a positive role model for the students of Lincoln since he arrived seven years ago.

And for the Jersey City police to get involved, banning Hampton from entering the Ed “Faa” Ford Memorial Complex to watch his team play two weeks ago, is beyond ludicrous. There were probably people in attendance that were previously arrested for drug deals and other crimes, but the police single out Hampton? It’s beyond absurd…